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Speaker 1: You're listening to Math and Magic, a production I Heart Radio.

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Speaker 1: We have to keep in mind that the Black community

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Speaker 1: is not monolithic and that there are people with wide

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Speaker 1: ranging views and opinions within the Black community, and for

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Speaker 1: us to have any amount of credibility, we need to

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Speaker 1: make sure that we have that balance in the reporting

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Speaker 1: that we provide. Hi, I'm Bob Pittman, and welcome to

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Speaker 1: Math and Magic. Stories from the Frontiers and Marketing. On

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Speaker 1: this episode, we're going to hear from one of my

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Speaker 1: colleagues at My Heart, someone who truly rose through the ranks,

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Speaker 1: and it is one who led the team that created

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Speaker 1: one of our most important new products, the only full

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Speaker 1: time news service for the Black community, the Black Information Network.

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Speaker 1: He's Tony Coles, the president of Black Information Network and

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Speaker 1: also a division president overseeing a hundred and fifty six

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Speaker 1: radio stations in one markets across America. Tony has a

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Speaker 1: story of a painfully shy kid who lived on a

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Speaker 1: farm in an incredibly small town in Ohio, who managed

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Speaker 1: to overcome that shyness and become an on air radio

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Speaker 1: personality and create an impressive career in radio. He moved

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Speaker 1: on to the programming side of things from being talent

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Speaker 1: and then joined the senior management ranks and programming, and

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Speaker 1: finally took over an entire group of markets and stations

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Speaker 1: as a division president. He believes in the power of

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Speaker 1: mentoring in both business and in our society. He had

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Speaker 1: parents that helped shape his success and he brings insights

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Speaker 1: we all need to hear. His great grandfather was a

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Speaker 1: slave in this country and his family even settled in

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Speaker 1: Ohio through the power of the underground railroad. Farming was

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Speaker 1: a way of life and his family and four h

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Speaker 1: was even important part of his life. Tony, Welcome, Thank you, Bob.

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Speaker 1: It's a pleasure to be here. We have so much

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Speaker 1: to talk about today and stop you and I don't

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Speaker 1: regularly explore, but first I want to do you in

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Speaker 1: sixty seconds. You're ready? Ready? Do you prefer cats or dogs? Cats,

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Speaker 1: salty or sweet? Sweet? Country or city city country music

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Speaker 1: or top forty country music? Call or text text a

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Speaker 1: M R F M. Love them both, but I'm going

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Speaker 1: to go with FM on the mic or behind the scenes,

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Speaker 1: behind the scenes every time it's about to get harder.

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Speaker 1: Smartest person you know, I'm blessed to know a lot

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Speaker 1: of smart folks, but I'm gonna lean into Greg Ashlock,

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Speaker 1: who runs our markets groups. Favorite radio station w n

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Speaker 1: C I and Columbus that was the big motivator. What

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Speaker 1: was your favorite animal on the farm? Probably our horses,

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Speaker 1: childhood hero, my dad, favorite band or artist. Probably gonna

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Speaker 1: go with Tim McGraw. First job, w h I Z

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Speaker 1: in Zanesville, Ohio, secret talent. A lot of people don't

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Speaker 1: know about my cooking obsession, but cook. What topic can

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Speaker 1: you talk about forever? Thanksgiving dinner for hours? Okay, Tony,

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Speaker 1: Let's start with the biggest breakthrough in our company and

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Speaker 1: our industry in quite a while. The Black Information Network

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Speaker 1: twenty four hours of news serving the Black community. It's

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Speaker 1: on digital, on the I Heart radio app, and over

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Speaker 1: the air on almost all of our markets where we

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Speaker 1: have large black communities, including New York, Atlanta, Miami, San Francisco, Detroit, Houston, Billion,

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Speaker 1: dozens more. It also is the source of news for

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Speaker 1: over a hundred of our hip hop, R and B

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Speaker 1: and gospel stations, and it's also carried on some stations

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Speaker 1: that My Heart doesn't own. It's local, national, and international news.

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Speaker 1: Tell us how you describe Black Information Network and what's

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Speaker 1: so unusual about it. The Black Information Network is first

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Speaker 1: and foremost a news network that comes from the black perspective.

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Speaker 1: When you have everyone from the writers, to the reporters

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Speaker 1: to the anchors telling stories not necessarily from their point

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Speaker 1: of view, but from their perspective, it makes a difference.

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Speaker 1: And more importantly, we're sourcing stories that mainstream newsrooms would

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Speaker 1: never tell only because they lack the diversity to bring

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Speaker 1: some of these stories to light. And in the most

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Speaker 1: diverse of those news rooms, those black voices don't always

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Speaker 1: have the loudest voice in the room to make sure

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Speaker 1: that those stories come to life. Talk about some examples, Tony,

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Speaker 1: I know you use one with the war in Ukraine.

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Speaker 1: Can you give us that one? Yeah, when when the

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Speaker 1: war first broke out, there were a number of blacks

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Speaker 1: and minorities who were having a hard time fleeing the

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Speaker 1: country for their own safety. And we wanted to cover

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Speaker 1: that perspective because it's not just about black life in America,

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Speaker 1: but black life overall. And our team fortunately was able

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Speaker 1: to contact a black reporter who was actually on the

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Speaker 1: ground in Ukraine very quickly, so not only were we

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Speaker 1: able to bring his perspective to an international crisis, but

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Speaker 1: also to hear the stories of what was happening to

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Speaker 1: minorities in that country in time of war was just

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Speaker 1: incredibly insightful, and to be able to get that on

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Speaker 1: very quickly was something we were proud of. When you

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Speaker 1: talk about delivering news from the black perspective, you also

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Speaker 1: have features as well. Can you talk a little bit

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Speaker 1: about what some of those features are in the range

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Speaker 1: of topics that you cover. We really want to make

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Speaker 1: sure that we're engaging, entertaining, and forming, and I think

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Speaker 1: that one of that stands out to me is uh,

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Speaker 1: I bet you didn't know. With Tarik Low, we hear

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Speaker 1: so many comments both within and outside the black community

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Speaker 1: because what he does is take historic acts, things that

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Speaker 1: that are little known to most people, either about people

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Speaker 1: who were black and uh and made life changing either

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Speaker 1: inventions or creations or changed the course of history. And

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Speaker 1: a lot of people didn't know that they were African

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Speaker 1: Americans who were doing that, or they were just little

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Speaker 1: known historic facts that often don't show up in your

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Speaker 1: typical history book. Talk to me a little bit about

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Speaker 1: the style of journalism. You know, you and I spent

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Speaker 1: a lot of time in the development of this and

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Speaker 1: going back and forth about where our place would be

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Speaker 1: contrasted to the kind of news that we are sort

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Speaker 1: of in the headlines today as people talk about what's

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Speaker 1: going on in the in the news media business. We've

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Speaker 1: assembled a team that not only has you know, brand

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Speaker 1: new journalists who are bringing not only a fresh perspective,

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Speaker 1: but a fresh set of eyes and ideas to the

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Speaker 1: news room and pairing them up with veteran journalist, award

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Speaker 1: winning TV reporters and watching the interaction and the flow

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Speaker 1: of ideas and content. It really not only make sure

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Speaker 1: that the content that we have on the air runs

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Speaker 1: the gamut in appeal to all ages and backgrounds, but

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Speaker 1: it's also great to see some of these budding journalists

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Speaker 1: developing in their own career because they have great role

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Speaker 1: models within our newsroom. You know, one of the things

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Speaker 1: I'm proud of stuff and I know you are too,

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Speaker 1: in the style of journalism you do, is that you

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Speaker 1: really work on treating the audience as intelligent decision makers,

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Speaker 1: with an idea that if you give them enough information,

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Speaker 1: hopefully all the information, they'll make good decisions. And you

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Speaker 1: seem to avoid the temptation to somehow get people's blood

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Speaker 1: pressure up in hopes of getting them more engaged quote

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Speaker 1: unquote round engaged. How tough has that been in a

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Speaker 1: world in which you know that's turning out probably would

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Speaker 1: be more than norm than not. It's certainly a challenge,

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Speaker 1: but it was really important to us from day one.

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Speaker 1: We looked at why someone else hadn't done this before,

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Speaker 1: quite honestly, and and the reality is that so many

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Speaker 1: of the gimmicks and the tactics that that a lot

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Speaker 1: of news organizations have resorted to over the years is

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Speaker 1: exactly why a lot of people had turned away from

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Speaker 1: news and we're beginning to believe the fake news and

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Speaker 1: narrative because it was really hard for them to know

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Speaker 1: what to trust and what not to trust, who to

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Speaker 1: trust and who not to And we wanted to make

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Speaker 1: sure that from day one we were building a product

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Speaker 1: that was unbiased. And also we have to keep in

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Speaker 1: mind that the black community is not monolithic and that

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Speaker 1: there are people with wide ranging views and opinions within

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Speaker 1: the black community, and for us to have any amount

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Speaker 1: of credibility, we need to make sure that we have

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Speaker 1: that balance in the reporting that we provide. And I

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Speaker 1: think for a lot of our reporters that was something

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Speaker 1: that they hadn't experienced in other newsrooms, and the question

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Speaker 1: of what angle do you want me to take with this?

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Speaker 1: What opinion should I have on this was a refreshing

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Speaker 1: conversation when we said, just tell the truth, present the facts,

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Speaker 1: and it gave them the opportunity to start bringing new

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Speaker 1: ideas and new stories to the network because they suddenly

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Speaker 1: realized they could report on what is interesting to the

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Speaker 1: black community, not what a focus group says their opinion

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Speaker 1: of a story should be. You know, as you and

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Speaker 1: I talked early on in development of Black Information Network,

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Speaker 1: one of the challenges of doing any news product today

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Speaker 1: that's advertiser supported is that if you're advertising supported, ratings matter,

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Speaker 1: and the best way to get ratings is to get

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Speaker 1: people worked up. Because the normal cycle of news is

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Speaker 1: that when there's a really big story, you get a

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Speaker 1: lot of listeners, and when there's really nothing going on,

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Speaker 1: you don't get so many listeners. It is peaks and valleys,

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Speaker 1: and a lot of news organizations want to fill those

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Speaker 1: valleys understandably, and we went with a new model of

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Speaker 1: founding partners versus advertisers, in which we went to a

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Speaker 1: group of companies and said, here's this mission to create

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Speaker 1: this important service for the black community. But we need

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Speaker 1: to free them from the need to chase ratings and

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Speaker 1: we want them to be able to do what they

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Speaker 1: do best, which is really focused on informing the community

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Speaker 1: and creating a trusted news source. Very important, and by

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Speaker 1: the way, let me give them a shout out, because

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Speaker 1: I think these are incredibly important companies that stepped up

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Speaker 1: to say, yes, we believe in this mission. We're gonna

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Speaker 1: be there as a founding partner Bank of the Aurica,

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Speaker 1: A Rise in CBS, Lows Tree and Me, McDonald's, Geico

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Speaker 1: and Sony so b I n As in service to

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Speaker 1: the Black community. What impact are you having and and

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Speaker 1: can you give us a couple of stories? Absolutely. One

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Speaker 1: of the things that's really important to us is that

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Speaker 1: we're not only reporting on the headlines, but we're having

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Speaker 1: an impact and a positive impact on the black community.

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Speaker 1: And I think of so many of the stories that

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Speaker 1: our reporters have brought to us. Vanessa Tyler came to

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Speaker 1: us with an idea of doing a special that was

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Speaker 1: completely about the missing black women all across America that

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Speaker 1: weren't getting attention, and she highlighted those and we've now

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Speaker 1: incorporated much of that content on an ongoing basis, I

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Speaker 1: think about what we're doing right now in our effort

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Speaker 1: to help one hundred thousand black listeners either up skill

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Speaker 1: into new careers, fine new careers, or completely change their

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Speaker 1: perspective on work. The partnership that we're doing with career

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Speaker 1: building right now that's focused on getting Black Americans into

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Speaker 1: more powerful positions and better opportunities. Those are just two

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Speaker 1: things that come to mind. But we've done so many

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Speaker 1: things to have a positive outcome for our community. Tony,

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Speaker 1: I think all of us who are not part of

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Speaker 1: the black community would benefit from hearing stories that are

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Speaker 1: a part of the Black families narratives. You have a

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Speaker 1: very powerful family narrative going back to your great grandfather.

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Speaker 1: Would you mind sharing that with us? Sure? I have

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Speaker 1: to start with the fact that you know, when you

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Speaker 1: think of some of the things that have happened in

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Speaker 1: related to social justice over the past few years, there's

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Speaker 1: this movement, there's this energy around the history of black

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Speaker 1: people in America, and I think what a law out

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Speaker 1: of people lose sight of is It wasn't that long

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Speaker 1: ago that people who are escaping slavery and the long

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Speaker 1: term impact that slavery has had when I think back

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Speaker 1: to my own family, and you know, my great grandfather

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Speaker 1: being one of the last slaves in America, my grandfather

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Speaker 1: being one of the first people in my family who

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Speaker 1: was able to read and to to learn to read legally,

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Speaker 1: and my father being the first person in our family

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Speaker 1: to actually go to school, and then my sister and

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Speaker 1: I being the first people in our family to be

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Speaker 1: able to graduate high school and go to college, just

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Speaker 1: a few generations from slavery is something that I think

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Speaker 1: about quite often. Let's stay on your background. You grew

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Speaker 1: up in a small Ohio town. I think the population

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Speaker 1: was five people, very small. Your dad was an oil driller,

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Speaker 1: your mom worked on the family's farm. You were in

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Speaker 1: four age, you were active on the school newspaper. Paint

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Speaker 1: a picture for us of growing up in the seventies

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Speaker 1: and eighties and that really small town, obviously rural environment.

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Speaker 1: I don't want to make it sound too Norman Rockwell,

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Speaker 1: but in many ways it really was. It was just

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Speaker 1: a wonderful experience for me growing up in a small town. Obviously,

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Speaker 1: we were the only black family in our town, so

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Speaker 1: that presented some some unique situations. But but more than anything.

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Speaker 1: It was such a learning experience. You learn the value

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Speaker 1: of hard work. Your view of the world is different

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Speaker 1: when you grow up around five hundred people. Every family

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Speaker 1: knows every other family. There's a genuine concern for your neighbors,

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Speaker 1: and especially in the farming communities, because anything that impacts

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Speaker 1: one farm impacts another, and so you have a lot

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Speaker 1: of shared experience is no matter how different you are.

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Speaker 1: You know, most people listening probably don't even know what

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Speaker 1: four H is. I grew up Mississippi. I do tell

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Speaker 1: us about four h and what impact that had on you.

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Speaker 1: Four h was absolutely pivotal for me and impactful. Uh

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Speaker 1: and and if you're not familiar with it, I often

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Speaker 1: refer to it as the farming version of Boy Scouts

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Speaker 1: or Girl Scouts. You have youth that come together starting

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Speaker 1: at the age of eight, and every year you can

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Speaker 1: pick one project, or you can pick multiple projects, and

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Speaker 1: it can run anything from you know, for me, it

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Speaker 1: was raising animals to forestry to public speaking and uh

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Speaker 1: and throughout the year, you have these projects that you

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Speaker 1: work on and then at the annual county Fair you

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Speaker 1: present your final projects uh and and you know, you

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Speaker 1: compete for awards, and there was always an impact to

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Speaker 1: your community. That was a focal point of so many

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Speaker 1: of the projects that we all worked on. So, uh,

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Speaker 1: it helps you grow and develop and it helps your

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Speaker 1: community be a better place. At the same time, you

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Speaker 1: thought you were going to be a park ranger or

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Speaker 1: a Methodist minister. I read, by the way, my dad

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Speaker 1: was a Methodist minister. So I'm really interested in why

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Speaker 1: did you think those were going to be your career opportunities? Well,

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Speaker 1: because park rangers and ministers are so closely related to

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Speaker 1: one another. Uh. You know, we were a very religious household.

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Speaker 1: We were very active in our church. Um, we were

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Speaker 1: in the church on on an ongoing basis, and you know,

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Speaker 1: it was something that that really spoke to me. I

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Speaker 1: enjoyed everything in the church. Uh, And so that was

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Speaker 1: that was something that intrigued me. And and actually one

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Speaker 1: of my best friends from childhood today is a Methodist minister.

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Speaker 1: But at the same time, through four h uh, you know,

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Speaker 1: I was a summer camp counselor. Before that, I was,

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Speaker 1: you know, a summer camper. You know, we did a

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Speaker 1: lot out of work around forestry. One of one of

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Speaker 1: the summers I planted four hundred trees in in a

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Speaker 1: vacant lot and uh, and so spending that much time

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Speaker 1: outdoors in nature and and you know, working in the

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Speaker 1: parks as a part of four age, it was something

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Speaker 1: that I enjoyed tremendously and uh. And so those two

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Speaker 1: fields were highly intriguing to me until the concept of

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Speaker 1: radio was introduced to my life. So let's let's make

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Speaker 1: the connection here now with the radio. You have a

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Speaker 1: great story about how your dad pushed you into your

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Speaker 1: first job, and I really had a way of thinking

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Speaker 1: about when you went to work. Can you tell us

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Speaker 1: that story? Sure? So. So, my father grew up during

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Speaker 1: the Great Depression as part of a very big family.

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Speaker 1: His father had a rule in place in their house

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Speaker 1: that anyone that was in the house by age twelve

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Speaker 1: needed to be paying rent or or get out. They

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Speaker 1: just couldn't afford to feed all those mouths. And so

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Speaker 1: my dad, from my earliest memories, told me that I

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Speaker 1: was going to get a reprieve until I was sixteen,

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Speaker 1: but I had to either get a job when I

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Speaker 1: was sixteen or leave home. And uh, and I, you know,

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Speaker 1: like most kids, never really thought much about it until

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Speaker 1: one day I came home from school and there were

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Speaker 1: boxes in my room, and when I asked my dad

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Speaker 1: about it, he said, well, you're almost sixteen and I

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Speaker 1: don't see you looking for work, so I want to

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Speaker 1: at least help you pack your stuff so you can

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Speaker 1: get out. Now, to this day, I don't think that

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Speaker 1: my dad would have kicked me out, but as a

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Speaker 1: fifteen year old, I wasn't ready to find out. Uh.

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Speaker 1: And so I very quickly started looking for for work

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Speaker 1: anywhere I could. And about a week after this, uh,

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Speaker 1: this moment, the program director for w h I Z

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Speaker 1: came to speak at our school career day and I

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Speaker 1: was fascinated by what he did, but I was more

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Speaker 1: terrified than if I didn't get a job, I was

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Speaker 1: going to be homeless. So I walked up to him

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Speaker 1: and said, I need a job. Do you have any jobs?

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Speaker 1: And Uh, Luckily for me, they had an opening for

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Speaker 1: a you know I CA I call it a gopher

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Speaker 1: at the time. We're literally anything that you needed in

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Speaker 1: the radio station. They needed somebody to help with and

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Speaker 1: I was that kid. And so I took a job

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Speaker 1: after school working at the local radio station. And uh.

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Speaker 1: And had it not been for my dad's strong encouragement

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Speaker 1: to find a job, I may not have found my

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Speaker 1: way into that radio station. So looking back, how do

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Speaker 1: you think your parents shaped who you are today? I

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Speaker 1: tell people all the time that I owe everything to

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Speaker 1: both of them. Uh. You know, obviously my my father

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Speaker 1: for not only the work ethic that I learned from

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Speaker 1: him by watching him over the years, but by him

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Speaker 1: pushing me to get a job. You know, I'm very

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Speaker 1: thankful that the stars aligned for that. And then my mom.

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Speaker 1: She is the one who recognized how shy I was,

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Speaker 1: and and I mean painfully shy and uh, and she

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Speaker 1: is the one who prompted and pushed and prodded me

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Speaker 1: into learning the importance of public speaking, learning the importance

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Speaker 1: of of interacting with with other kids, because I was

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Speaker 1: that kid that you know, if I could have sat

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Speaker 1: in the woods or read my Bible, That's what I

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Speaker 1: was going to do. But she's the one that said,

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Speaker 1: you have to break out of this mold. And so

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Speaker 1: between the two of them, I owe everything to them.

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Speaker 1: More on math and magic right after this quick break,

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Speaker 1: Welcome back to math and Magic. Let's hear more from

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Speaker 1: my conversation with Tony Coles. Let's go back to your

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Speaker 1: radio career. Everyone I know on the radio has some

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Speaker 1: twist of fate that land at them that first on

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Speaker 1: air job. You've got one to what's your story? So

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Speaker 1: Pie Patoniac, who was the program director at that radio station,

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Speaker 1: called my house one one Saturday morning. And this was

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Speaker 1: back during the days where stations signed off at midnight.

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Speaker 1: They signed on at six am. And he was in

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Speaker 1: the hospital with appendicitis attack and was frantically searching for

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Speaker 1: anyone to go in and sign on the station and

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Speaker 1: do the morning show, which he normally did. And uh,

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Speaker 1: I was the last person that he called and the

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Speaker 1: first person who answered the phone. And you know, I

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Speaker 1: had no clue what I was doing. I you know,

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Speaker 1: I was the the errand kid at the time. And

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Speaker 1: he's like, I just need you to go in, and

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Speaker 1: I don't care what you do, but play the legal

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Speaker 1: I d and play the commercials and just cover until

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Speaker 1: someone can get there. And I went in and proceeded

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Speaker 1: to have what I am sure to this day is

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Speaker 1: the worst airshift in the history of radio. But I

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Speaker 1: was mortified. I assumed that that was the end of

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Speaker 1: my job and I was going to be homeless at

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Speaker 1: that point. But what shocked me was the general manager

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Speaker 1: and owner of the radio station called a few days

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Speaker 1: later and said, hey, you know, we want to teach

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Speaker 1: you how to be a DJ. And I said, you

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Speaker 1: clearly didn't hear what happened, and he said, no, we heard,

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Speaker 1: and it was bad. But what we could tell was

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Speaker 1: you were really trying and we think that if you

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Speaker 1: can try that hard, if we show you what to

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Speaker 1: actually do, you could be good at this. And um,

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Speaker 1: you know again, I think back to the mentors in

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Speaker 1: my life and I look at that moment. There was

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Speaker 1: absolutely no reason, uh that they needed to take that

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Speaker 1: leap of faith, But they saw something in me that

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Speaker 1: I didn't see it myself, uh, and they trained me.

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Speaker 1: And before you knew it, I was sitting in that

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Speaker 1: studio and I actually realized that people did that for

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Speaker 1: a living. And that was the moment where I'm like,

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Speaker 1: I don't want to do anything else but being a

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Speaker 1: radio station. You know, you had some really good jobs

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Speaker 1: on the air. You moved around market to market, grew

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Speaker 1: in bigger markets. But how did you move from being

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Speaker 1: on air talent behind the saint in programming a radio station?

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Speaker 1: So I was on in Columbus, Ohio. I was on

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Speaker 1: a top forty station that was competing with what is

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Speaker 1: now one of the I heart stations in w n

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Speaker 1: c I, the station that I listened to growing up

390
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Speaker 1: and idolizing. And I was across the street competing and

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Speaker 1: new manager came in who hired a new program director

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Speaker 1: who fired everybody on the air and was going to

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Speaker 1: bring in their own staff. And I remember so many

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Speaker 1: things about that moment because it was the biggest market

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Speaker 1: i'd worked in at the time. I loved the job,

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Speaker 1: I love the people that I worked with. But what

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Speaker 1: struck me more than anything was the program director at

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Speaker 1: w n c I, a guy named Dave Robbins. He

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Speaker 1: was our mortal enemy. We hated him. He was just

400
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Speaker 1: a fierce competitor. But within twenty four hours of our

401
00:24:15,280 --> 00:24:19,439
Speaker 1: air staff being fired, Dave had called every single person

402
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Speaker 1: at home. We had no idea how he even got

403
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Speaker 1: our numbers, but he called every single person and he said, Hey,

404
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Speaker 1: I've been in your shoes. Come over to our station.

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Speaker 1: You know, make your demo tapes. If you need to

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Speaker 1: make phone calls, you can use our phones. Whatever you

407
00:24:34,880 --> 00:24:38,560
Speaker 1: need to find a job, come see us. And so

408
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Speaker 1: I took him up on the offer. But the thing

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Speaker 1: that struck me the most was within the first few minutes.

410
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Speaker 1: I saw the way that Dave was interacting with his

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Speaker 1: air staff, I saw the way that he was interacting

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Speaker 1: with the people in the building, and more than anything,

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Speaker 1: I saw the passion that he had for what he did.

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Speaker 1: And in that moment, I just I walked up to

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Speaker 1: him and I said, I know I came over here

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Speaker 1: to make demo tapes, but I actually think I want

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Speaker 1: to do what you do. And he was so passionate

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Speaker 1: about being a manager and being a leader that he

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Speaker 1: sat down with me for two hours and told me

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Speaker 1: everything about why he loved his job, and from that

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Speaker 1: moment on, I wanted to do that. You continued to

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Speaker 1: rise in the programming ranks. You had a lot of successes.

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Speaker 1: He eventually became one of our company's executive vice presidents

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Speaker 1: of programming, covering the radio stations the markets in the

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Speaker 1: west part of the country. And then you had the

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Speaker 1: opportunity to go to the business side, from what I

427
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Speaker 1: think all of us in programming would say is the

428
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Speaker 1: creative side, and be a division president overseeing a P

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Speaker 1: and L of one of the company's divisions about four

430
00:25:48,119 --> 00:25:52,159
Speaker 1: million revenue twenty one markets across America. Why was that

431
00:25:52,200 --> 00:25:55,800
Speaker 1: of interest to you. One of the things that I

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Speaker 1: loved the most and enjoyed the most on the programming

433
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Speaker 1: side was seeing the impact that the programming leads have

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Speaker 1: on people and the things that you can accomplish, and

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Speaker 1: more than anything, the innovation that can happen. But what

436
00:26:14,560 --> 00:26:18,879
Speaker 1: I noticed was the division presidents and other positions in

437
00:26:18,920 --> 00:26:23,879
Speaker 1: the leadership team had far more impact because you weren't

438
00:26:23,960 --> 00:26:27,760
Speaker 1: isolated to just one area of a radio station or

439
00:26:27,800 --> 00:26:31,760
Speaker 1: one area of the company. And the more time that

440
00:26:31,920 --> 00:26:37,240
Speaker 1: I spent talking to division presidents and other leaders I

441
00:26:37,359 --> 00:26:41,840
Speaker 1: noticed that exact same excitement and passion that Dave Robbins had.

442
00:26:42,200 --> 00:26:45,919
Speaker 1: And so to me, moving from the creative side to

443
00:26:45,960 --> 00:26:50,280
Speaker 1: the business side, obviously there are some differences, but more

444
00:26:50,359 --> 00:26:55,200
Speaker 1: than anything, it's an opportunity to have a greater impact,

445
00:26:55,359 --> 00:26:58,080
Speaker 1: and I'm so excited that I made the leap. What

446
00:26:59,000 --> 00:27:03,359
Speaker 1: surprised most about moving from the creative side to the

447
00:27:03,400 --> 00:27:08,520
Speaker 1: business side, I would say that, Uh, one of the

448
00:27:08,560 --> 00:27:12,800
Speaker 1: surprises was that so many of the challenges that we

449
00:27:12,920 --> 00:27:16,840
Speaker 1: faced on the programming side happened in all other parts

450
00:27:16,840 --> 00:27:20,160
Speaker 1: of the company. And while it may be off the air,

451
00:27:20,680 --> 00:27:25,360
Speaker 1: you're still dealing with personalities, You're still dealing with the

452
00:27:25,400 --> 00:27:28,440
Speaker 1: need to come up with ideas. And as I started

453
00:27:28,480 --> 00:27:32,560
Speaker 1: interacting with more clients and meeting with more clients, that

454
00:27:32,680 --> 00:27:36,040
Speaker 1: was both the surprising and the refreshing thing that I

455
00:27:36,119 --> 00:27:39,920
Speaker 1: realized in that on the air, you're trying to sell

456
00:27:39,960 --> 00:27:42,480
Speaker 1: people your radio station. You're trying to sell them on

457
00:27:42,520 --> 00:27:46,600
Speaker 1: a new artist or a new song. And for our clients, uh,

458
00:27:46,640 --> 00:27:49,440
Speaker 1: they're trying to sell new ideas and new products. But

459
00:27:49,600 --> 00:27:53,399
Speaker 1: the thought process that goes into the creative work that

460
00:27:53,440 --> 00:27:57,119
Speaker 1: we do on the programming side is exactly what you

461
00:27:57,240 --> 00:28:00,679
Speaker 1: need when you're trying to help clients market their businesses.

462
00:28:01,320 --> 00:28:05,880
Speaker 1: Let's go back to Black Information Network. Before the pandemic.

463
00:28:06,119 --> 00:28:09,160
Speaker 1: We as a company, we're looking for new products. You

464
00:28:09,200 --> 00:28:12,600
Speaker 1: took on an additional role of leading the effort with

465
00:28:12,400 --> 00:28:15,359
Speaker 1: a with a few of our other really talented senior

466
00:28:15,400 --> 00:28:18,240
Speaker 1: executives in the company to develop a new kind of

467
00:28:18,280 --> 00:28:20,960
Speaker 1: news service when we were talking about which became Black

468
00:28:21,000 --> 00:28:26,400
Speaker 1: Information Network, and we led up to the pandemic with

469
00:28:26,480 --> 00:28:31,359
Speaker 1: this on the development cycle. Thanks for looking good. Pandemic hits.

470
00:28:32,000 --> 00:28:36,360
Speaker 1: As you remember, everyone remembers revenue advertising revenue goes down.

471
00:28:36,560 --> 00:28:40,600
Speaker 1: Every company responds by reducing cost. We put every development

472
00:28:40,600 --> 00:28:43,320
Speaker 1: product on the hold, and then we have the George

473
00:28:43,320 --> 00:28:49,200
Speaker 1: Floyd murder. You call me and you say, Bob, I

474
00:28:49,240 --> 00:28:51,440
Speaker 1: know we don't have any extra money. I know we

475
00:28:51,520 --> 00:28:54,400
Speaker 1: put everything on hold. We need to do this and

476
00:28:54,440 --> 00:28:56,440
Speaker 1: we need to do it right now. Can you tell

477
00:28:56,520 --> 00:28:59,320
Speaker 1: that story and how you got this on the air

478
00:28:59,360 --> 00:29:03,560
Speaker 1: in a matter of weeks, not months. We started the

479
00:29:03,640 --> 00:29:07,720
Speaker 1: development of this network long before the launch, and I

480
00:29:07,760 --> 00:29:11,160
Speaker 1: think had we not had so many creative minds in

481
00:29:11,240 --> 00:29:15,320
Speaker 1: place and so many people thinking about this and thinking

482
00:29:15,360 --> 00:29:18,920
Speaker 1: about the possibilities, that we would not have been able

483
00:29:18,960 --> 00:29:21,520
Speaker 1: to launch as quickly as we did. You know, as

484
00:29:21,560 --> 00:29:25,479
Speaker 1: you mentioned, even during the pandemic, the people that we

485
00:29:25,520 --> 00:29:29,760
Speaker 1: had already been interviewing and talking to before we had

486
00:29:29,800 --> 00:29:33,560
Speaker 1: to pause on the project, we're calling me and saying, hey,

487
00:29:33,600 --> 00:29:37,280
Speaker 1: are you seeing the disproportionate impact that COVID is having

488
00:29:37,400 --> 00:29:41,160
Speaker 1: on the black community for mortality, to hospitalizations, to the

489
00:29:41,200 --> 00:29:46,640
Speaker 1: economic impact. And even though none of them had active

490
00:29:46,720 --> 00:29:50,160
Speaker 1: jobs at the moment, they were already thinking about this

491
00:29:50,240 --> 00:29:53,000
Speaker 1: network and thinking about the kind of content that we

492
00:29:53,000 --> 00:29:56,760
Speaker 1: could provide and the impact that we could have. So

493
00:29:57,360 --> 00:30:00,640
Speaker 1: when we when we had that conversation. I will never

494
00:30:00,680 --> 00:30:04,760
Speaker 1: forget that Saturday us being on the phone. We knew

495
00:30:04,880 --> 00:30:08,640
Speaker 1: that there was a need for this network before. We

496
00:30:08,720 --> 00:30:13,400
Speaker 1: have a responsibility to put this network on now and

497
00:30:13,480 --> 00:30:17,360
Speaker 1: just calling people all over the country saying we're going

498
00:30:17,400 --> 00:30:20,720
Speaker 1: to do this. We're going to do this now. What

499
00:30:20,840 --> 00:30:23,640
Speaker 1: have you been working on and how quickly can we

500
00:30:23,680 --> 00:30:28,440
Speaker 1: assemble this? And what surprised me as conversation after conversation

501
00:30:29,320 --> 00:30:32,440
Speaker 1: they hadn't stopped working on this network. They hadn't stopped

502
00:30:32,480 --> 00:30:36,320
Speaker 1: thinking about this network. And that's how we were able

503
00:30:36,320 --> 00:30:38,720
Speaker 1: to hit the ground running because so many people were

504
00:30:38,800 --> 00:30:43,480
Speaker 1: already emotionally invested in bringing this to life. They just

505
00:30:43,600 --> 00:30:46,040
Speaker 1: needed the okay to do it. And you had a

506
00:30:46,040 --> 00:30:48,920
Speaker 1: lot of allies internally and a lot of folks helping you.

507
00:30:48,920 --> 00:30:51,600
Speaker 1: You know, have to mention Doc Winter and Theamtum we

508
00:30:51,600 --> 00:30:55,240
Speaker 1: were actively involved in enormous proponents of this as well,

509
00:30:55,720 --> 00:30:59,680
Speaker 1: who on the outside really embraced this right away and

510
00:30:59,720 --> 00:31:03,520
Speaker 1: said yeah, there for you. We were blessed with so

511
00:31:03,640 --> 00:31:07,360
Speaker 1: many allies outside the company. I mean, first and foremost,

512
00:31:07,440 --> 00:31:10,920
Speaker 1: I have to start with our founding partners, but not

513
00:31:11,080 --> 00:31:16,920
Speaker 1: just the founding partners, but their entire teams really embraced

514
00:31:16,920 --> 00:31:20,640
Speaker 1: our team and embraced the work that we were doing. Then,

515
00:31:20,680 --> 00:31:24,880
Speaker 1: I think of all of the organizations and the people.

516
00:31:24,960 --> 00:31:26,720
Speaker 1: You know, one thing that a lot of people don't

517
00:31:26,800 --> 00:31:30,800
Speaker 1: know is we have a board of advisors that help

518
00:31:30,960 --> 00:31:34,120
Speaker 1: us with not only our content but just our our

519
00:31:34,200 --> 00:31:38,200
Speaker 1: great sounding boards. And we have everyone from Mayor Control,

520
00:31:38,560 --> 00:31:41,960
Speaker 1: the mayor of New Orleans, to artist Stevens, the first

521
00:31:42,000 --> 00:31:46,840
Speaker 1: black CEO for Big Brothers Big Sisters, the civic support

522
00:31:46,920 --> 00:31:50,880
Speaker 1: that we had, the clients that were involved, and then

523
00:31:51,000 --> 00:31:56,040
Speaker 1: just other other journalists, other industry people who saw the

524
00:31:56,160 --> 00:31:59,640
Speaker 1: vision that we had and were supportive of that, whether

525
00:31:59,680 --> 00:32:03,000
Speaker 1: it was giving their time, giving their insights, or just

526
00:32:03,040 --> 00:32:05,720
Speaker 1: giving their support to our team. I also have to

527
00:32:05,720 --> 00:32:09,000
Speaker 1: give a shout out to Chris Berry, who oversees the

528
00:32:09,400 --> 00:32:13,560
Speaker 1: news operations for iHeart Media in general. He from day

529
00:32:13,600 --> 00:32:17,240
Speaker 1: one was not only our biggest fan, but but a

530
00:32:17,320 --> 00:32:21,760
Speaker 1: great counselor as well. So today you're running one of

531
00:32:21,760 --> 00:32:26,120
Speaker 1: our big divisions, also running the Black Information Network. Let's

532
00:32:26,120 --> 00:32:29,800
Speaker 1: tag into your management insights. You've been a big proponent

533
00:32:29,840 --> 00:32:32,440
Speaker 1: and you mentioned it already a few times of mentoring

534
00:32:33,160 --> 00:32:37,120
Speaker 1: why and what's the power of it? Well, it starts

535
00:32:37,160 --> 00:32:40,280
Speaker 1: first and foremost with with the journey that I've been on.

536
00:32:40,840 --> 00:32:43,360
Speaker 1: I know for a fact that I would not be

537
00:32:43,520 --> 00:32:48,479
Speaker 1: here today if it wasn't for a powerful group of

538
00:32:48,520 --> 00:32:52,720
Speaker 1: mentors in my own life. And what I realized very

539
00:32:52,800 --> 00:32:56,800
Speaker 1: early on is there is a difference between people who

540
00:32:56,800 --> 00:33:02,040
Speaker 1: support you and people who will be not only your

541
00:33:02,120 --> 00:33:05,680
Speaker 1: champion but your biggest critic and give you perspective and

542
00:33:05,720 --> 00:33:08,080
Speaker 1: give you honest feedback. And I think that that's the

543
00:33:08,080 --> 00:33:12,880
Speaker 1: difference between having friends in the industry and having mentors.

544
00:33:12,920 --> 00:33:17,600
Speaker 1: But what has struck me throughout the years is every

545
00:33:17,640 --> 00:33:22,040
Speaker 1: time I attempt to thank them in any way to

546
00:33:22,200 --> 00:33:26,160
Speaker 1: a tie, every mentor has said, I'm not doing this

547
00:33:26,360 --> 00:33:29,960
Speaker 1: for thanks. I'm doing this because I believe in you

548
00:33:30,040 --> 00:33:32,520
Speaker 1: and I want you to grow and succeed. And the

549
00:33:32,600 --> 00:33:35,160
Speaker 1: only way that you could ever repay me is to

550
00:33:35,280 --> 00:33:39,800
Speaker 1: do this for someone else. And over time, as I've

551
00:33:39,800 --> 00:33:44,080
Speaker 1: started mentoring other people both inside and outside the business,

552
00:33:44,720 --> 00:33:49,400
Speaker 1: I now understand what those mentors meant because I realize

553
00:33:49,800 --> 00:33:53,560
Speaker 1: that quite often, even though I'm mentoring someone else, I'm

554
00:33:53,680 --> 00:33:58,000
Speaker 1: learning in the process and I'm becoming a stronger person

555
00:33:58,120 --> 00:34:02,800
Speaker 1: because of that relationship. How does corporate culture and your

556
00:34:02,800 --> 00:34:07,920
Speaker 1: corporate values impact your business mission. It's the foundation for

557
00:34:07,920 --> 00:34:12,600
Speaker 1: for everything that we do. And I remember when when

558
00:34:12,680 --> 00:34:17,000
Speaker 1: you joined I Heart Media and you started talking about

559
00:34:17,000 --> 00:34:20,800
Speaker 1: our core values and our corporate values and uh in

560
00:34:20,880 --> 00:34:24,040
Speaker 1: the very first meeting that they attended, and you had

561
00:34:24,080 --> 00:34:28,560
Speaker 1: them up on these these big boards all over the room. UH,

562
00:34:28,560 --> 00:34:32,439
Speaker 1: and it was what you and Rich stand for. It's

563
00:34:32,480 --> 00:34:35,279
Speaker 1: what the company was going to stand for. And it

564
00:34:35,320 --> 00:34:39,000
Speaker 1: became the north star for the company and for me,

565
00:34:39,280 --> 00:34:43,160
Speaker 1: who had worked for a number of great organizations over

566
00:34:43,200 --> 00:34:45,919
Speaker 1: the years, it was the first time that I'd ever

567
00:34:45,960 --> 00:34:50,799
Speaker 1: seen any organization have that proclamation and make it such

568
00:34:50,840 --> 00:34:54,360
Speaker 1: a steady and consistent part of everything that we do.

569
00:34:54,880 --> 00:34:57,600
Speaker 1: And it has absolutely been I think one of the

570
00:34:57,680 --> 00:35:01,320
Speaker 1: greatest things that you and Rich of have brought to

571
00:35:01,360 --> 00:35:05,399
Speaker 1: iHeart Media. Talk about how you and your team think

572
00:35:05,440 --> 00:35:09,080
Speaker 1: about the responsibilities of journalists to the communities they serve.

573
00:35:10,080 --> 00:35:14,400
Speaker 1: It has been fascinating to watch and to learn from

574
00:35:14,520 --> 00:35:18,960
Speaker 1: the team the stories that they cover, but more importantly,

575
00:35:19,120 --> 00:35:24,320
Speaker 1: what those stories represent and the people that they represent.

576
00:35:24,840 --> 00:35:29,880
Speaker 1: And radio in general has always been the original storyteller.

577
00:35:29,920 --> 00:35:35,080
Speaker 1: It's been a fantastic vehicle for sharing the impact that

578
00:35:35,200 --> 00:35:37,560
Speaker 1: the world is having on people, and people are having

579
00:35:37,600 --> 00:35:40,200
Speaker 1: on the world. But watching the team at the Black

580
00:35:40,280 --> 00:35:44,040
Speaker 1: Information Network look at not only what is the story

581
00:35:44,120 --> 00:35:47,680
Speaker 1: that they're telling, but what does it represent. It can

582
00:35:47,719 --> 00:35:52,000
Speaker 1: be anyone from the young girl who won the national

583
00:35:52,080 --> 00:35:56,680
Speaker 1: spelling be to a senior citizen to you know, someone

584
00:35:56,760 --> 00:36:00,880
Speaker 1: with the latest invention. It not only represents what they're

585
00:36:00,960 --> 00:36:04,920
Speaker 1: bringing to the world, but the hope that they bring

586
00:36:05,040 --> 00:36:09,319
Speaker 1: to the Black community, the impact that they have on

587
00:36:09,520 --> 00:36:12,600
Speaker 1: others within the community. And I think that's one of

588
00:36:12,680 --> 00:36:15,799
Speaker 1: the things that we hear back most often about the

589
00:36:15,840 --> 00:36:20,440
Speaker 1: network is we're not just reporting on the latest tragedy,

590
00:36:20,960 --> 00:36:25,440
Speaker 1: we're reporting on the latest triumph as well. COVID changed

591
00:36:25,480 --> 00:36:29,759
Speaker 1: how we all operate businesses. You launch the Black Information

592
00:36:29,760 --> 00:36:33,399
Speaker 1: Network during COVID. How did that affect I mean being

593
00:36:33,440 --> 00:36:36,319
Speaker 1: in this virtual world, How did that affect how you

594
00:36:36,480 --> 00:36:40,160
Speaker 1: build the operation and the organization? And by the way,

595
00:36:40,200 --> 00:36:43,800
Speaker 1: what's a lasting problem with it or what's a lasting

596
00:36:43,880 --> 00:36:48,480
Speaker 1: benefit coming from that world. Our vision was to build

597
00:36:48,480 --> 00:36:52,200
Speaker 1: out this giant news hub in Atlanta and that would

598
00:36:52,239 --> 00:36:55,719
Speaker 1: be the source of all things. B I N and

599
00:36:56,040 --> 00:37:00,680
Speaker 1: COVID changed everything. We up until that point never would

600
00:37:00,680 --> 00:37:04,440
Speaker 1: have imagined a work from home scenario or work from

601
00:37:04,480 --> 00:37:08,800
Speaker 1: anywhere scenario. And while I hate to say anything great

602
00:37:08,880 --> 00:37:14,040
Speaker 1: came from COVID, one thing that did change the trajectory

603
00:37:14,080 --> 00:37:18,200
Speaker 1: of this network was the sudden realization that we didn't

604
00:37:18,280 --> 00:37:21,239
Speaker 1: have to have a group of people all sitting in

605
00:37:21,280 --> 00:37:25,520
Speaker 1: the same room in Atlanta to make this network a reality.

606
00:37:25,719 --> 00:37:30,600
Speaker 1: And the benefit of that has been we now have

607
00:37:31,200 --> 00:37:36,520
Speaker 1: journalists and reporters everywhere from New York City to Huntsville, Alabama.

608
00:37:37,160 --> 00:37:42,000
Speaker 1: And it's not just about the range of places where

609
00:37:42,000 --> 00:37:46,120
Speaker 1: we have studios and we have reporters, it's the perspectives

610
00:37:46,160 --> 00:37:49,800
Speaker 1: that they bring. Um you know, are reporting on black

611
00:37:49,840 --> 00:37:53,920
Speaker 1: farmers may not have happened or may not have sounded

612
00:37:53,960 --> 00:37:57,200
Speaker 1: the way that it does. If we didn't have black

613
00:37:57,239 --> 00:38:00,840
Speaker 1: reporters in rural communities, and had we stuck to that

614
00:38:00,880 --> 00:38:04,879
Speaker 1: original vision of a team in Atlanta, the network would

615
00:38:04,960 --> 00:38:08,960
Speaker 1: most likely sound very different than it is. And I

616
00:38:09,040 --> 00:38:15,120
Speaker 1: don't see us ever going back to one centralized newsroom again.

617
00:38:15,600 --> 00:38:21,400
Speaker 1: The advantages that we see now of having correspondence throughout

618
00:38:21,440 --> 00:38:25,719
Speaker 1: the country. We just have a much more robust pipeline

619
00:38:25,800 --> 00:38:31,120
Speaker 1: of stories and content because they're actually living in all

620
00:38:31,160 --> 00:38:34,960
Speaker 1: of the communities that were reporting on. Let's spendish up

621
00:38:34,960 --> 00:38:38,879
Speaker 1: on you if you could. What advice would you give

622
00:38:38,960 --> 00:38:43,040
Speaker 1: your twenty one year old self. It's an interesting question

623
00:38:43,640 --> 00:38:47,200
Speaker 1: and timely for me because you know, I've got a

624
00:38:47,239 --> 00:38:50,480
Speaker 1: son that's getting ready to leave the house and UH,

625
00:38:50,520 --> 00:38:54,000
Speaker 1: and much to his chagrin, I've been torturing him daily

626
00:38:54,160 --> 00:38:56,319
Speaker 1: with all of the things that I want to make

627
00:38:56,360 --> 00:38:58,760
Speaker 1: sure he knows before he goes out into the world.

628
00:38:59,000 --> 00:39:02,080
Speaker 1: You didn't, and so is in his room. Did you? Oh?

629
00:39:02,120 --> 00:39:04,520
Speaker 1: I was tempted to. I was very tempted to, but

630
00:39:04,960 --> 00:39:08,640
Speaker 1: I gave him a reprieve. But but during this process,

631
00:39:09,239 --> 00:39:13,200
Speaker 1: so much of what I'm telling him, I'm thinking back to,

632
00:39:13,920 --> 00:39:17,600
Speaker 1: UH to you know, my own childhood and my own

633
00:39:17,640 --> 00:39:20,920
Speaker 1: adventure into the world. And something that I read recently

634
00:39:21,000 --> 00:39:26,319
Speaker 1: that has really stood out to me was understand the

635
00:39:26,400 --> 00:39:31,160
Speaker 1: importance and the value of compounding. And when I was

636
00:39:31,200 --> 00:39:35,120
Speaker 1: reading it, it was talking about obviously compounding interest and

637
00:39:35,160 --> 00:39:40,399
Speaker 1: how you can build lifelong wealth if you're diligent early on,

638
00:39:41,239 --> 00:39:43,239
Speaker 1: and so I've shared that with him. But what I

639
00:39:43,280 --> 00:39:49,320
Speaker 1: think is more important is the compounding of everything in life,

640
00:39:49,800 --> 00:39:55,160
Speaker 1: investing not only financially, but investing in people, investing in

641
00:39:55,239 --> 00:40:02,799
Speaker 1: yourself investing in relationships early on. For me, I look

642
00:40:02,880 --> 00:40:05,279
Speaker 1: back and I didn't do that. I certainly didn't do

643
00:40:05,320 --> 00:40:09,759
Speaker 1: that financially, but also I was so focused on hopping

644
00:40:10,000 --> 00:40:14,680
Speaker 1: from market to market, UH that while I had friendships

645
00:40:14,680 --> 00:40:18,000
Speaker 1: in a lot of these towns, UM, I always viewed

646
00:40:18,000 --> 00:40:20,879
Speaker 1: it as well, they're my friend from New York, they're

647
00:40:20,920 --> 00:40:24,280
Speaker 1: my friend from Columbus, they're my friend from here, UM

648
00:40:24,320 --> 00:40:26,320
Speaker 1: and I and I wish that I would have taken

649
00:40:26,440 --> 00:40:30,560
Speaker 1: more of those friendships and relationships over time with me

650
00:40:31,160 --> 00:40:34,000
Speaker 1: UH to a much deeper level. So I think that

651
00:40:34,239 --> 00:40:38,919
Speaker 1: the the value of compounding everything in your life from

652
00:40:38,960 --> 00:40:43,200
Speaker 1: early on UH will give you a much richer life,

653
00:40:43,400 --> 00:40:47,920
Speaker 1: both financially and personally. Tony, we always and math and

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00:40:48,000 --> 00:40:51,880
Speaker 1: magic with a shout out to the analytics person we

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00:40:51,960 --> 00:40:57,000
Speaker 1: most admire the math side of things and to the

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00:40:57,040 --> 00:41:01,200
Speaker 1: most creative person the magic side to business. So you

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00:41:01,239 --> 00:41:05,720
Speaker 1: have to pick two people analytics, creative, math and magic.

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00:41:05,880 --> 00:41:11,239
Speaker 1: Who are they so for for the math side, um,

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00:41:11,320 --> 00:41:15,719
Speaker 1: it's it's a recent entrant into my life. UM. There's

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00:41:15,719 --> 00:41:18,960
Speaker 1: a man named Rashad Tobacca Wala that a lot of

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00:41:18,960 --> 00:41:22,840
Speaker 1: people in marketing and advertising, though um, he's an advisor,

662
00:41:22,880 --> 00:41:26,160
Speaker 1: works with publicists and a number of Fortune five hundred

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00:41:26,200 --> 00:41:29,719
Speaker 1: companies and and I was fortunate enough to get introduced

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00:41:29,719 --> 00:41:34,320
Speaker 1: to him during the pandemic. And one thing that stood

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00:41:34,360 --> 00:41:38,480
Speaker 1: out to me was his ability to take data, to

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00:41:38,680 --> 00:41:42,360
Speaker 1: take research, to take all of the math side of

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00:41:42,560 --> 00:41:47,560
Speaker 1: business and marketing and advertising and humanize it. And I

668
00:41:47,560 --> 00:41:50,640
Speaker 1: think that that's what he does best, is humanized data

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00:41:50,760 --> 00:41:53,640
Speaker 1: and trends. And I think that that in and of

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00:41:53,719 --> 00:41:57,479
Speaker 1: itself is an art form to be able to turn

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00:41:57,600 --> 00:42:02,319
Speaker 1: numbers into stories. On the magic side, something that has

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00:42:02,360 --> 00:42:06,319
Speaker 1: fascinated me is the work that Procter and Gamble does

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00:42:07,120 --> 00:42:12,160
Speaker 1: when it comes to the multicultural space. And even though

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00:42:12,239 --> 00:42:16,879
Speaker 1: that's a CpG company, what has impressed me has been

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00:42:17,000 --> 00:42:22,000
Speaker 1: their ability to lean into powerful creative to tell stories

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00:42:22,520 --> 00:42:26,480
Speaker 1: uh and particularly about women and minorities uh and and

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00:42:26,560 --> 00:42:31,200
Speaker 1: to start conversations. And I think that that is one

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00:42:31,239 --> 00:42:36,080
Speaker 1: of the most creative responsibilities that I've seen any company.

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00:42:36,120 --> 00:42:38,839
Speaker 1: Do you know what, You're the first one to give

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00:42:39,480 --> 00:42:43,360
Speaker 1: the magic shout out to a company and uh and

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00:42:43,400 --> 00:42:46,359
Speaker 1: I agree with you on pent Tony, You've got an

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00:42:46,360 --> 00:42:50,600
Speaker 1: inspiring story filled with useful insights for others. Your commitment

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00:42:50,640 --> 00:42:54,920
Speaker 1: to mentoring and helping others is definitely your hallmark. I

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00:42:54,960 --> 00:42:57,120
Speaker 1: want to give a shout out before we leave, of course,

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00:42:57,160 --> 00:43:00,440
Speaker 1: to Black Information Network. So if you don't have the

686
00:43:00,480 --> 00:43:03,319
Speaker 1: I Heart Radio app, get it. If you have the

687
00:43:03,360 --> 00:43:06,799
Speaker 1: I Heart Radio app, open it up and find the

688
00:43:06,880 --> 00:43:10,560
Speaker 1: Black Information Network. You can listen to the national version

689
00:43:10,560 --> 00:43:13,520
Speaker 1: which covers the country, or you can go to individual

690
00:43:13,840 --> 00:43:18,200
Speaker 1: versions for specific cities, which will have local news, trafficking

691
00:43:18,280 --> 00:43:21,560
Speaker 1: weather for those cities added in as well. I actually

692
00:43:21,560 --> 00:43:25,800
Speaker 1: find it's my news source of choice because the news

693
00:43:26,080 --> 00:43:32,320
Speaker 1: is so balanced and so comprehensive, a really fantastic product

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00:43:32,360 --> 00:43:34,920
Speaker 1: and obviously one of the reasons I'm so happy to

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00:43:34,960 --> 00:43:38,239
Speaker 1: have you on today. Thanks for your contributions to our

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00:43:38,280 --> 00:43:42,719
Speaker 1: company and UH and thanks for your contributions to our communities,

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00:43:42,960 --> 00:43:46,120
Speaker 1: and congrats and all you've accomplished. Thank you both. I

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00:43:46,160 --> 00:43:51,160
Speaker 1: appreciate it. There are a few things I've picked up

699
00:43:51,160 --> 00:43:55,239
Speaker 1: in my conversation with Tony. One, good journalism doesn't hinge

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00:43:55,280 --> 00:43:59,680
Speaker 1: on getting people's blood pressure up, Tony Steam doesn't chase clickbait. Instead,

701
00:43:59,800 --> 00:44:02,920
Speaker 1: they focus on the stories that matter to know the

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00:44:02,960 --> 00:44:05,680
Speaker 1: power of compounding. As Tony told his son, if you

703
00:44:05,760 --> 00:44:08,960
Speaker 1: start investing early, and that's investing financially and in your

704
00:44:09,000 --> 00:44:12,399
Speaker 1: personal relationships. You can enrich your life in every sense

705
00:44:12,440 --> 00:44:16,000
Speaker 1: of the word. Three, don't let your vision be siloed.

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00:44:16,480 --> 00:44:19,120
Speaker 1: We didn't plan on launching the Black Information Network during

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00:44:19,120 --> 00:44:22,120
Speaker 1: the pandemic, but Tony kept his eye on current events

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00:44:22,320 --> 00:44:25,840
Speaker 1: to ensure he would launch the network when society needed

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00:44:25,840 --> 00:44:30,759
Speaker 1: it the most. I'm Bob Pittman. Thanks for listening. That's

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00:44:30,760 --> 00:44:33,000
Speaker 1: it for today's episode. Thanks so much for listening to

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00:44:33,080 --> 00:44:35,560
Speaker 1: Math and Magic, a production of I Heart Radio. The

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00:44:35,640 --> 00:44:38,320
Speaker 1: show is hosted by Bob Pittman. Special thanks to Susan

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00:44:38,360 --> 00:44:40,759
Speaker 1: Ward for booking and wrangling our wonderful talent, which is

714
00:44:40,760 --> 00:44:43,840
Speaker 1: no small feat Marissa Brown for pulling research, our editors

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00:44:43,960 --> 00:44:47,680
Speaker 1: Derek Clements, Mary Dow and Ryan Murdoch, our producer Morgan Levoy,

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00:44:47,840 --> 00:44:51,240
Speaker 1: our executive producer Nikki Eator, and of course Gayle Rahul,

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00:44:51,440 --> 00:44:54,359
Speaker 1: Eric Angel Noel and everyone who helped bring this show

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00:44:54,400 --> 00:44:56,160
Speaker 1: to your ears. Until next time,